Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archiveshttp://hdl.handle.net/10822/5494572019-03-21T18:58:28Z2019-03-21T18:58:28ZA conversation with Senator Lloyd Bentsen on American competitivenesshttp://hdl.handle.net/10822/5527222019-03-18T20:10:28Z2012-01-20T22:50:33ZA conversation with Senator Lloyd Bentsen on American competitiveness
Senator Lloyd Bentsen, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, discusses the United States' growing trade deficit and proposed trade legislation.
In 1986 the U.S. trade deficit topped $170 billion despite the dollar's 30% decline against other currencies. With the United States' shift from the world's largest creditor country to the world's largest debtor country complete, American lawmakers led a push for trade legislation that would once again restore America's competitiveness in the world market. Although President Reagan resisted the rising tide of trade legislation, labeling congressional efforts as protectionist, after the 1986 mid-term elections Democrats took control of the House and the Senate, giving new impetus to proposed trade bills. In this episode, Senator Lloyd Bentsen, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, discusses proposed trade legislation. Is trade legislation the answer to America's growing trade deficit, or is it the first step down the dangerous road to protectionism?
2012-01-20T22:50:33ZThe year as seen from Moscow : U.S.-Soviet relations in reviewhttp://hdl.handle.net/10822/5527232019-03-18T20:24:13Z2012-01-20T22:50:33ZThe year as seen from Moscow : U.S.-Soviet relations in review
Margaret Ozmer and guests discuss U.S.-Soviet relations.
1983 was a year of war and revolution throughout the globe, making peace an allusive goal. The relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union was not improving and while both sides may have agreed upon the significance of the year’s events, their interpretations varied. With the rigidity of the Soviet rule, outsiders, as well as it’s own citizens, can only speculate upon how the year looked for the Kremlin. Sitting in for Peter Krogh, Margaret Ozmer leads a discussion between Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former Deputy Assistant in National Security to President Ford, William Hyland, and former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski. With confusion over leadership in the Soviet Union, the Red Army in a costly struggle in Afghanistan, the shooting down of a Korean jet liner, and an invasion in Granada, Hyland and Brzezinski agree the Soviets must have viewed 1983 as a difficult year. But, with is greatest enemy, the United States, mired in conflicts in the Middle East and in Central America, the Soviet’s decline on a broader scale seems less significant.
2012-01-20T22:50:33ZA conversation with Ambassador to the United Nations, Jeane Kirkpatrickhttp://hdl.handle.net/10822/5527102019-03-18T20:09:23Z2012-01-20T22:50:32ZA conversation with Ambassador to the United Nations, Jeane Kirkpatrick
Examines the United States' objectives at the United Nations and the role the institution plays in American foreign policy.
Host Peter Krogh sits down with Jeane Kirkpatrick, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations under President Reagan, to discusses her role in pursuing American foreign policy through an institution that is at times bogged down by procedural delays, unfriendly nations, and conflicting national interests. Despite past criticism of the UN, Ambassador Kirkpatrick talks about the progress that has been made in realizing the objectives that define the United States' role at the UN, objectives which she lists as the articulation of American values, the resolution of international conflicts, and the improvement of economic systems from within the UN. In this interview, Kirkpatrick discusses the ever-changing political environment at the UN, the institution's inherent strengths and weaknesses, as well as American foreign policy in Central America.
2012-01-20T22:50:32ZThe death throes of apartheidhttp://hdl.handle.net/10822/5527212019-03-18T20:12:02Z2012-01-20T22:50:32ZThe death throes of apartheid
Discusses the positions of the different parties involved in the political life of South Africa as the sets out to dismantle apartheid and establish majority rule. Views on what the future of the country should look like vary greatly, and cause bitter fights between the different fractions.
In this double length episode, host Peter Krogh travels to South Africa where he examines the events that would eventually lead to the end of apartheid. Between 1948 and 1994 the apartheid laws created a system of legalized segregation, denying millions of South Africa’s blacks access to jobs, education, and political rights. In 1990 President Frederik De Klerk freed Nelson Mandela and legalized political opposition, beginning South Africa’s gradual transition into a multi-racial democracy. However, despite the anti-apartheid movement’s increasing momentum, differences about how a post-apartheid South Africa should be structured revealed rifts within the non-white community. In Natal province a vicious civil war raged between supporters of Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress (ANC) and backers of Inkatha, the Zulu political organization led by Mangosuthu Buthelezi. On the other side of the country in Cape Town, the ANC’s efforts to unite the anti-apartheid groups under their own leadership met further opposition from the more militant Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), which disagreed with the ANC on the issue of negotiations with the white government. In the Orange Free State province, the legalization of political opposition led to numerous black African organizations protesting apartheid, but also to the creation of Afrikaner nationalist groups such as the right wing neo-Nazi Afrikaner Resistance Movement. While not overwhelmingly popular, these groups represented the considerable portion of non-black South Africans that remained committed to retaining some form of white supremacy. In light of these contradictory visions for the future of South Africa, this episode examines the different parties involved in the dismantling of apartheid and the future of a nation divided.
2012-01-20T22:50:32ZA conversation with Robert Komer on U.S. maritime strategyhttp://hdl.handle.net/10822/5527082019-03-18T20:10:13Z2012-01-20T22:50:32ZA conversation with Robert Komer on U.S. maritime strategy
Examines the prospects for a 600-ship Navy and the possibility of an American defense strategy without nuclear weapons.
The 1980s was a period of transformation for the United States Armed Services. With Cold War relations between the two superpowers increasingly strained, the Soviet Union and the United States competed for strategic advantage both within the ranks of their militaries and at the bargaining table. At the 1986 Reykjavik Summit in Iceland President Reagan proposed banning all ballistic missiles, briefly offering the hope of a world without nuclear weapons. The talks failed, however, and policymakers returned to the realization that deterrence formed the bedrock of American defense policy. In an attempt to strengthen the U.S. military's deterrence capability, Secretary of the Navy John Lehman implemented a strategy that would create a 600-ship Navy for the United States. Proponents of the plan maintained that Lehman's forward maritime strategy would secure America's strategic advantage over the Soviet Union, while critics argued that it was an expensive and unnecessary expansion of a field in which the United States had already achieved military superiority. In this episode Robert Komer, former Undersecretary of Defense and leading expert on American conventional military strategy, discusses the proposed 600-ship Navy and the prospects for America's nuclear deterrence. As policymakers reevaluate nuclear weapons and U.S. maritime strategy, Komer answers the questions, should the United States move to a 600-ship Navy, and would the United States be safer without nuclear weapons?
2012-01-20T22:50:32ZA conversation with Jesse Jackson on U.S. relations with the countries of Southern Africahttp://hdl.handle.net/10822/5527072019-03-18T20:09:49Z2012-01-20T22:50:32ZA conversation with Jesse Jackson on U.S. relations with the countries of Southern Africa
Peter Krogh and Jesse Jackson discuss U.S. policy toward the countries of Southern Africa.
At the airing of this episode, mounting racial unrest and civil wars continued to tear Southern Africa apart. Recently returning from the region, Rev. Jesse Jackson met with leaders from eight black African "frontline states." His lone-wolf diplomacy had in the past assisted in the release of a hostage from Lebanon. He calls upon President Reagan to hold a Summit Meeting with the leaders of the frontline states to discuss ways to counter South African economic and military moves against its neighbors. He argues that the United States must take stronger measures against South Africa if disaster in Southern Africa is to be avoided. His recommendations presaged accords which led to détente in the region.
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